vargis14 wrote:Yep its The OPs project car. I for one hand have been fixing cars at least 8 hrs a day since 1986 and i do not want any project cars thank you very much.
But being from North america i think the OP's car is kinda neat....the last inline 6 cylinder i have seen from ford in the states was in a 80 something pickup. Plus i hate fords...but the I-6 peaked my interests.
BTW how much HP and torque did those things put out new?? Also when did down under cars loose there Balls err i mean HP and torque fall off. Was it 1972-73 like in the united states when they bolted on air pumps and inefficient catalytic converters along with dropping compression ratios into the 8-1 area so engine would not produce as much NOX??
My particular car is 162KW @ 4900 RPM and 361Nm @ 3000 rpm when new.
The Inline 6 is still in the new Falcon, its going to be killed in 2016 though, most likely going to have the 3.5L Ecoboost V6 you have in your F150.
70s/80s/90s for V8s in Australia, when our 302/351 Cleveland copped emissions regulations it went down hill, it was only putting out 149KW in 351 form in the XE Falcon, then Ford canned the V8 in 1982 with the XE Falcon and persisted with the I6 instead.
Ford USA did a short run of Cleveland V8s in the early 70s, Australia had them from 1971 to 1982.
Then in 1992 the V8 came back as an imported 5L Windsor in the EB Falcon, the same engine thats in the 90s Mustangs from 1992 to 2002, but they're crap, the Inline 6 makes 164KW in XR6/Fairmont Ghia spec, the V8 makes 175KW but its a lot heavier, so its slower, and they're harder to get power out of, the block is weak, once you start pushing over 300hp, they tend to split, everything is expensive compared to the Inline 6, from engine rebuild kits to heads/exhaust etc.
Synchromesh wrote:Nice thread but I don't get it. What's the point of spending all this money to refresh a mid-90s milquetoast sedan that's has maybe another 50K miles left in it? I could understand something rare and enthusiast but this is basically a typical grandpa-mobile.
Originally I had my eyes on an E32 7 series BMW, but parts are way too costly and pretty much with the amount of electrics they have, if something plays up, even though I'm an auto electrician, if I need to replace a computer module, its going to cost in the 4 figure range, rather than ring up the wrecker down the road and get a body control module from one of the 50,000,000 E series Falcons they have sitting down there. This particular series of Falcon was Ford Australia's top selling model, so you can pretty much go down to the super market and buy parts for it, lol.
I'd loved an 80s Ford F series or 90s Silverado, but they are just too expensive here, 90s Silverados/Sierras are still asking for $20K plus here, 80s F100s/F250s are all rusty and crap, and still over $10K.
Plus this Inline 6 is very easy to get more power out of it.
Its also satisfying turning spanners on your own cars.
50K miles? I worked on an AU Falcon with 960,000km on the clock, ex taxi on its original engine a few months ago for an electrical problem, these things can typically do 1,000,000km before its new engine time as long as its been maintained, there is a good reason the Falcon is used as a taxi here in Australia.
They don't generally have engine problems, as they're basic engines, these particular series EA-L will blow head gaskets if you don't change the coolant at the specified intervals, or if you run it dry it will blow it right away. They have an issue with the high pressure power steering line as the part that goes into the back of the pump moves about, and eventually it leaks, which leaks right into the alternator, which eats away the slip rings and brushes in the alternator, as you can see in my photos, but Repco has released a revised hose which fixed the problem.
Things like accessories, belts, will go like on any car after time.
With those low mount turbo kits they sit just under the K frame, so you'd have to pretty much fully compress the suspension to damage it, or hit a rock/animal. You can get ones that mount in the engine bay, but that low mount one is the latest in E series Falcon aftermarket goodies.